You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
It has been argued that Islam liberated Muslim women by granting them full rights as citizens. Yet in reality we see that in much of the Muslim world women have been subjected to both cultural and political oppression. Instances such as forced marriages, arbitrary divorce, female mutilation and other abuses are sadly common, as are restrictions on women's education and on their role in the labor force. This book explores these problems and highlights the contrast with what Islam--through the Quran and the Sunnah--in fact prescribes. The causes of such contradictions are shown to lie in other sociocultural and political dynamics, quite outside the realm of the revealed religion.
It has been argued that Islam liberated Muslim women by granting them full rights as citizens. Yet in reality we see that women have long been subjected to both cultural and political oppression. Instances such as forced marriages are sadly common in the Muslim World, as are restrictions on education and on their role in the labour force.
Exploration of the phenomenon of conversion, the contribution of European converts and the evolution and future of British Islam.
The book explores experiences of Muslim women living predominantly in the United Kingdom, with contributions from other countries such as Australia, America and Sweden. Permeating themes include the impact of islamophobia and religious prejudice on the lives of Muslim living in diasporic situations.
Since the end of the Cold War and the 1990/91 Gulf war, the Middle East has been in the grip of dramatic changes. The region faces a host of problems urgently in need of solutions if a successful new world order is to be built on the ruins of the old. In this book, an international group of scholars addresses these issues and considers the options for the political and economic reconstruction of the Middle East. Themes covered include: democratization; the Arab state system in the new global environment; the end of Marxism in the Middle East; security structures; the Arab-Israeli conflict; the role of pan-Islamism and pan-Arabism; and the prospects for economic revival. Case-studies are drawn from the whole region, from North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
How are women in the Arab world negotiating the male-dominated character of Islamist movements? Is their participation in the Islamic political project¿including violent resistance against foreign invasion and occupation¿the result of coercion, or of choice? Questioning assumptions about female powerlessness in Muslim societies, Maria Holt and Haifaa Jawad explore the resistance struggles taking place in Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and elsewhere in the Middle East from the perspectives of the women involved. The authors make extensive use of vivid personal testimonies as they examine the influence of such factors as religion, patriarchy, and traditional practices in determining women¿s modes of participation in conflicts. In the process, they add to our knowledge not only of how women are affected by political violence, but also of how their involvement is beginning to change the rules that govern their societies.
Many Westerners view Islam as a religion that restricts and subordinates women in both private and public life. Yet a surprising number of women in Western Europe and America are converting to Islam. What attracts these women to a belief system that is markedly different from both Western Christianity and Western secularism? What benefits do they gain by converting, and what are the costs? How do Western women converts live their new Islamic faith, and how does their conversion affect their families and communities? How do women converts transmit Islamic values to their children? These are some of the questions that Women Embracing Islam seeks to answer. In this vanguard study of gender and ...
How are women in the Arab world negotiating the male-dominated character of Islamist movements? Is their participation in the Islamic political project -- including violent resistance against foreign invasion and occupation -- the result of coercion, or of choice? Questioning assumptions about female powerlessness in Muslim societies, Maria Holt and Haifaa Jawad explore the resistance struggles taking place in Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and elsewhere in the Middle East from the perspectives of the women involved. The authors make extensive use of vivid personal testimonies as they examine the influence of such factors as religion, patriarchy, and traditional practices in determining women's modes of participation in conflicts. In the process, they add to our knowledge not only of how women are affected by political violence, but also of how their involvement is beginning to change the rules that govern their societies.
Scholars from various disciplines worked together to present the first interdisciplinary book to address the issue of Islam, secularism and globalization. The book has a clear structure which represents its interdisciplinary approach: the first section addresses the philosophical and historical discussion about Islam and secularism; the second section discusses the topic from an ethnographical and social anthropological viewpoint; and the final section addresses Islam, secularism and globalization from a political viewpoint. This unique collection not only offers innovative research and new material, it also provides empirical examples and theoretical debates, and could therefore also be used as a textbook for courses on Islam, globalization, anthropology, politics, sociology and law.
Embracing a new religion, or leaving one’s faith, usually constitutes a significant milestone in a person’s life. While a number of scholars have examined the reasons why people convert to Islam, few have investigated why people leave the faith and what the consequences are for doing so. Taking a holistic approach to conversion and deconversion, Moving In and Out of Islam explores the experiences of people who have come into the faith along with those who have chosen to leave it—including some individuals who have both moved into and out of Islam over the course of their lives. Sixteen empirical case studies trace the processes of moving in or out of Islam in Western and Central Europe...